Indonesian Islamic party head arrested for graft

JAKARTA, Indonesia 
Indonesia's anti-graft commission has for the first time arrested a top leader of an Islamic-based party on corruption charges.

Corruption Eradication Commission spokesman Johan Budi said Thursday that Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, leader of the Prosperous Justice Party, was arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes to secure a government contract for PT. Indoguna Utama, a meat importer.

Prosperous Justice is Indonesia's largest Muslim-based party and is part of the coalition government.

Budi says Ishaaq was taken into custody late Wednesday, two days after two company directors and Ishaaq's aide were arrested at a hotel in Jakarta. Investigators confiscated US$103,000 in cash found in a car belonging to the aide.

Ishaaq has denied wrongdoing. Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, is plagued by graft.